Warriors of Time
by gumygum62
Summary: River and the Doctor meets a group of mercenaries that has a spoiler that even River doesn't know. They also find unexpected survivors of the Time War and the Doctor learns how important forgiveness is to him.
1. Pulses

**Warriors of Time **

Fan Fiction by Liza Grill (GumGum)

Chapter 1: Pulses

The seven suns beat down onto the dry desert planet as a troop of Commander Ghonia Waters fell to his knees from the blistering heat. "Please ma'am, I can't go on. Can't we wait until night fall?"

"There is no night on this planet, you moron. Now, get back in line soldier! Private Jacob Sanders, have you picked up anything?" Cmdr. Ghonia asked another soldier, that was holding a 51st century bio scanner.

"No Time Lord pulse yet ma'am," he replied but then stopped to read the now beeping scanner. "Wait, it picked up something. A double pulse to the east," Private Jacob said quickly, pointing in the direction.

"Excellent! Let's move!" Cmdr. Ghonia shouted to her 3 troops and they moved on into the vast desert with nothing but dry sand dunes and a slow death.

The Doctor looked around a bit in awe and confusion of the surroundings. He pulled his psychic paper from his pocket reading the words, 'I will meet you here,' followed by gallifreyan coordinates.

"Who's late now, River," he said to himself, looking around once more wondering where she was and slightly worried if she was in danger; her psychic notes usually meant she was.

"Hello, sweetie," a voice belled behind him, making him spin around quickly.

"River, there you are."

"You're late," she said flirtatiously and embracing him as they kissed.

"Actually, I was on time. Is everything alright?" the Doctor asked, checking her with his eyes for injuries and maybe any weapons on her.

"Of course, I'm alright. Why do you ask?"

"Well you call me here, to a dangerous waste land planet with some of the most hostile creatures in the universe inhabiting it."

"No I didn't. You called me," she replied as her smile disappeared from her face.

The Doctor showed her the note on his psychic paper but she countered his proof with her communicator with the same note.

"Interesting," the Doctor said, placing his psychic paper back into the pocket of his tweed jacket.

"Shall we sync diaries then, to see where we are?" she asked, preparing her diary.

They both leaned on the shaded part of the TARDIS flipping through their diaries, being careful not to ask about a major adventure that one of them may or may not have had. This always made the Doctor nervous. Any time in his past or future was major to him and he tends to spoil the spoilers.

"OK so…New Rome?" River asked.

The Doctor smiled, remembering that passionate adventure. "Yes. We must go back and check up on the crusaders. I heard one of them got married and had triplets."

"Oh that would be lovely." She laughed and flipped through her diary again.

"The Under Deep of Denver?" the Doctor asked with hidden hesitation.

"Yep, got it, I wonder if they've fixed the plumbing." River looked up at her Doctor not believing what was happening. He smiled back knowing what she was thinking. "Oh Doctor, we are on the same time stream, but how?" she asked, hugging him.

"I don't know but we should make it a holiday," he replied, kissing her deeply.

"Not here, I hope. Or we can just drag out a bed."

The Doctor laughed, loving that idea and pinning her to the side of the TARDIS, kissing her neck.

"When you both hired me, I wasn't expecting you to follow. Do you not trust my work, Mr. and Miss. Doctor Song?" Commander Ghonia asked with her arms crossed in annoyance to the couple.

"Hired?" they both asked in confusion.

Commander Ghonia stood with her three extremely armed troops, who stood behind her with emotionless faces and with ready rifles close to their chests. Not knowing any of these people the Doctor became nervous and slightly agitated of their knowledge of him. River felt the same but she eased her stance seeing that they weren't from Stormcage.

As the wind blew between them, the Doctor smelled a musty coal scent that reminded him what planet they were on. He smiled at his new unknown company. "Hello, didn't expect you lot being here, nor didn't expect to see any human here at all. Also, since that you know me and River and we don't know you, I would like a reintroduction. A quick one, if at all possible," the Doctor said as he clapped his hands and stepping forward towards the group.

Cmdr. Ghonia blinked in shock but was not surprised. "I'm Commander Ghonia Waters and these are my men, Private Darek Moore, Private Jacob Sanders, and my muscle, Private Bo. He has no last name and for good reason. We were hired for a search and rescue mission by you and your wife." Darek and Jacob were young men in their 20s and quite pale in comparison to Bo, who stood at almost 7 feet tall with biceps the size of cabbages. They wear sleek black military uniforms that were equipped for any type of combat.

"Interesting, who's missing?" asked the Doctor.

"I have a feeling that I shouldn't say," she replied.

"Why not?"

"Because, of the fact that you asked who, which makes me feel that you don't know yet. And to be quite honest, I'm slightly irritated that you didn't present that you and your wife were, at one point, here. It would have made my job a little bit easier to search for the boy."

"Boy?" the Doctor quoted her, smiling at the clue that she let slip.

Cmdr. Ghonia let out a breath, acknowledging her mistake, and then quickly turned her attention to Pvt. Jacob who said, "Commander, I have a Time Lord Pulse reading!" he announced, hearing the beeping alarm on the scanner. Cmdr. Ghonia gave him an obvious look and gestured her hand at the Doctor. "No ma'am. Another Time Lord Pulse reading," he added, explaining himself.

"What!?" she questioned, becoming serious, marching over to Jacob. She grabbed the scanner out of his hand and examined it. The Doctor stepped forward again this time in confusion of Jacob's last statement.

"What do you mean another Time Lord pulse?" he asked, wanting to know what was going on.

"It's coming right to us," Cmdr. Ghonia said, staring at the scanner and ignoring the Doctor's demanding question. The scanner bleeped a second time and echoed the first. "There's two?" she whispered and widened her eyes.

"You lot, tell me now!" the Doctor shouted at the group as River tried to hold him back.

"Doctor, leave it," River tried to tell him but he wasn't listening. Too much hope and great importance was at stake and to deny him the knowledge of others like him was making him angry.

"TELL ME WHO?!" he yelled, grabbing Cmdr. Ghonia hard, making her face him and letting the scanner tumble to the hot sand. A soft elegant hand reached down and gently picked up the scanner.

"What's with all the stress, my lord?" asked a young adult woman, wearing something that almost made the Doctor's hearts completely stop; a long crimson gallifreyan dress.


	2. Color Spectrum and Seasoning

Chapter 2: Color Spectrum and Seasoning

The Doctor and the others just stared at the young woman in disbelief and amazement. She waited for an answer from the Doctor but was returned with gawking looks. She looked at the device in her hand figuring out instantly how it worked and what it was for.

"Looking for Time Lords isn't a hard task; you only just have to ask someone," she said, handing the scanner back to Cmdr. Ghonia. Cmdr. Ghonia nodded without changing her expression and numbly held the device. The woman became uncomfortable and wasn't used to a group staring at her. "I'm sorry is this normal human behavior? Or have I offended her in some way?" she asked the Doctor.

"No she's just…I'm just…you're real," he replied, stumbling on his words and taking a step back to rebalance himself.

"Well, of course I am. Why would I not be, my lord."

"Yes but how? And please, don't call me lord. It makes me feel old."

"Well you are old. You shouldn't be ashamed of your eleventh incarnation; it gives you wisdom and status." She paused for a moment looking at the group. "Umm…What should I call you?"

The Doctor smiled at her, remembering his manners. "Hello, I'm the Doctor and I'm sorry but I don't recognize you. But you are real. You are really real," he said now standing quite close to her. The woman nodded uncomfortably. Suddenly, the Doctor yelled in delight and hugged the woman, lifting her off the ground and spinning her around before setting her back down.

A hand grabbed the Doctor's shoulder and tossed him into the air and yelled, "Don't you touch her!" The Doctor landed with a thud on the hard sand but got up straight away, seeing another Time Lord. This time it was a young man in blue military Gallifreyan uniform. His green eyes darted at the Time Lady checking her for injuries.

"Doctor!" River called out, running to his side. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm sorry if I scared you," he said to the woman.

"It's OK, you didn't scare me but my companion is quite protective of me, my lord Doctor," she replied with a forgiving smile.

"What is going on? Who are you two?" Cmdr. Ghonia demanded, crossing her arms and not liking this situation at all.

The two Time Lords, not wanting to be rude, quickly named themselves but in a descripted way that a human can understand. "Well if I had to described my name it would be the colors of the universe in a line with a curve and the ends of the line would touch the ground of the planet in the horizon," the woman said to the group, but they shared at her in confusion.

"And I would be called a mineral that would be found in many oceans on many planets. Also, if dried would be a perfect spice for many dishes of food," the military Time Lord explained, but there was still blank stares at the two and more uncomfortable feelings clouded them.

"OK? So your names are riddles?" asked Cmdr. Ghonia, still confused at the whole situation.

"Oh no, we are just explaining our names. I never translated it for human ears," the Time Lady nervously explained.

The Doctor smiled at the two time lords with delight. "Rainbow and Salt," River said, smiling as well.

Rainbow gasped. "I love it! Rainbow; I'm going to use that version of my name all the time. What do you think, Salt? Do you like your name?"

Salt shrugged unimpressed with the meaning of names.

"Interesting, I thought that you were the last Time Lord left in the universe, Doctor," said Cmdr. Ghonia, raising an eyebrow at the Doctor.

Rainbow and Salt looked at the Doctor, like two children that found out the family dog ran away. The Doctor hesitated on his answer to the two young gallifreyans and when he found the words, he was interrupted by the horrific screams from Pvt. Jacob.

A huge coyote-like dog chomped down hard on the troop's neck, killing him instantly. It released Jacob and stared down at the rest of the group. The dog rose, what looked like, quills from the ridge of its back and raddled them loudly. Within seconds, the rest on the dogs pack appeared from all sides. Their empty black eyes stared to spew a thick ink-like substance that filled the air with a disgusting odor.

Rainbow covered her nose with her arm. "What is that thing? And that smell, what is that?" she asked.

"No idea but I don't think that they want to play fetch. Run!" the Doctor yelled, "to the TARDIS, everyone!" The group started to run for the doors but the mutant dogs wouldn't allow them to escape that easily.

The pack began to glow amber red as they chased their pray. One leaped into the air at Rainbow, almost hitting its target, but Salt countered the creature by firing his mercy gun and stunning it. Salt shot another dog that tried to pounce on River and Pvt. Bo fired his weapon to keep the dogs at bay. Pvt. Darek was not so lucky and find himself screaming as the mutant ripped him apart.

"Darek!" Cmdr. Ghonia called out but the Doctor shoved her into the TARDIS and guided the others in.

"I'm sorry," he said, giving Jacob and Darek a final farewell, and then closed the TARDIS doors.


	3. Forgiveness

Chapter 3: Forgiveness

Commander Ghonia and Private Bo gawked up the center TARDIS and slowly inched their way back from where they entered.

"Yes, I know. Bigger on the inside and it can be a bit shocking, don't worry you will get used to it," said the Doctor, assuring the two humans that they were safe, "River, you alright?" he asked her.

"I'm fine, sweetie, but I think we may have a problem," River replied, looking at Salt and Rainbow, who were looking at the information screen on the main console. The Doctor knew what they were looking at and it was a problem indeed. The Doctor inched forward to try to explain himself and his TARDIS, but Rainbow jumped back in fear.

"Stay back, you thief!" she ordered. Salt pulled her behind him and pointed his mercy gun at the Doctor.

"No, I only barrowed her, I was going to give her back but stuff happened and well…" the Doctor paused, trying to think up another way to explain.

"You are a wanted renegade time lord and by the laws of the Gallifreyan Celestial Intervention Agency I'm placing you under arrest, my lord Doctor," Salt stated, making his way to the navigating station of the console.

"What are you doing?" asked the Doctor, becoming resistant as Salt typed in coordinates and dematerialized the TARDIS into the time vortex.

"I'm sending us back to Gallifrey where you will be tried for your crimes," he replied, "and returning this TARDIS to the repair shop."

"Wait, you can't do that!" the Doctor protested and reached for a lever to stop the TARDIS but was blocked by Salt's weapon.

"He's right, we can't go to Gallifrey," River said, trying to help the Doctor explain.

"Don't worry, once we get to Gallifrey, the agents will send you back to your proper time lines," said Rainbow, thinking that the humans were afraid.

"That's not what they meant. We really can't go there," Cmdr. Ghonia made clearer.

Salt looked at the Doctor in confusion. "Why can't we?"

"Because it's not there," he answered. Suddenly, the TARDIS violently jolted forwards, launching all its passengers to the floor.

Cmdr. Ghonia awakened to the most frightening, blinding, and head pounding alarm that she has ever experienced. The bright red warning lights on the sides of the TARDIS walls flickered on and off making the side panels deep red and the sound was deafening. She quickly found the Doctor and River bouncing around between each control panel, trying to stop the alarm.

"Commander, there you are. How was your sleep?" the Doctor asked yelling over the sound of the alarms. He didn't wait for an answer before he was pushing her towards the controls and placing her hands and fingers on what seemed like random buttons. "Don't move!" he yelled, then quickly went back to his frantic dancing around the center consol. She did what she was told but almost let her head slip once she saw Rainbow addressing a head wound on Pvt. Bo. He was unconscious, lying on his back underneath her, on the bottom of the TARDIS. Feeling pressure on her fingers, re-stabilizing them on the buttons, she looked up and saw Salt.

"Don't move," he said. His light green eyes pierced throw her and she numbly nodded. He turned his attention towards the Doctor. "Doctor, we are ready!" He then moved closer to her. Staying on her right, he moved his right arm under her left, crisscrossing them together. Blushing so hard, she could feel her face becoming bright red and her heart beat pounded to her ears. Salt pushed down on a large yellow push button and waited for the Doctor.

"Good, jumping back into reality in 3…2…1…" The Doctor pulled down a lever and clicked up a toggle switch, and the whole room was engulfed in light brighter than the sun.

Seconds later, the TARDIS was quiet and back to normal as if nothing happened, and everyone took a relaxing breath. The Doctor watched Rainbow as she ran up to Salt and gave him a hug, comforting herself more than him. 'How could they not know?' thought the Doctor, 'being so young, they must have only been children during the war but how could they not remember something like that.'

River put her hand on his shoulder. "You need to tell them, sweetie," she said. He sadly agreed.

"River, could you please take Ghonia and Bo to the medical bay?" he asked, making sure Cmdr. Ghonia could hear. Cmdr. Ghonia was going to protest but stopped herself, thinking that it would probably be best to leave it alone. She helped River place Bo onto a stretcher and then followed her down the TARDIS corridors to the medical bay.

The two Time Lords stared at the Doctor, waiting for an explanation about what happened to their precious planet. The Doctor took a nervous sigh, realizing that this was the first time he had to describe the Time War to his own people. He didn't realize that it was going to be this hard and it was very difficult to find the right words, but he told his tale and bravely watched their reaction towards the outcome of the bitter end.

Rainbow dried her tears from her face and accepted the Doctor's tale in silence. Salt just looked away, hiding his emotions from himself and his pride. "I'm so sorry. Please, forgive me," the Doctor said, holding back his own tears and feeling sick with guilt.

Salt looked up angrily at the Doctor. "My mother and my father, my brothers and my sisters, and all my cousins, they're all dead because of you. And you ask for forgiveness?" he asked with shock, "you won't have it."

"Salt, he had to and it makes sense. Why our TARDIS never took us home and why we couldn't make contact to anyone. Everything we've questioned in the past as we grow up in our TARDIS, it makes sense." Rainbow gently grabbed Salt's hand but he pulled away, rejecting her warmth.

"No! I won't accept it!" he yelled, "I won't!" He turned and stormed out of the console room. Rainbow started to follow him but was stopped by the Doctor.

"Let him go," he said with a frown, "he needs time."


	4. Spoiler Free

Chapter 4: Spoiler Free

River and Cmdr. Ghonia stepped out of the medical bay after they placed Pvt. Bo in a healing tank. Ghonia stared at the Gallifreyan symbol and writing on the medical bay's double doors. It was nothing like the red medical cross that humans used but the crisp red color gave the meaning away. "How long will he have to stay in there?" she asked River.

"Not for long but he will wake up with a splitting headache, I imagine," River replied. River then stopped Ghonia from going any further. "Who are you?" she demanded.

"Sorry?" Cmdr. Ghonia asked, not understanding the question.

"You said that the Doctor and I hired you to find a boy. Who is the boy? And why were you hunting Time Lords?" she demanded again.

Cmdr. Ghonia smirked at River. "Now you know how your husband feels when someone else knows all the answers."

"Don't you mock me, cause unlike my husband, I don't follow the rules," River threatened, putting her face up to Ghonia.

"Oh, but I know one rule you will always follow."

"Yeah, what's that?"

"Spoiler free," Cmdr. Ghonia countered, leaving River staring in anger. Feeling like she had made her point, Cmdr. Ghonia stepped aside and continued back to the console room.

The Doctor lay underneath the navigation panel of the main control console, repairing the damaged circuits. "Hitting the wall of the Time Lock really jolted some things loose. Did you get the mercury tape, Rainbow?" he said but there was no answer, "Rainbow?" The Doctor lifted himself to his feet and found Rainbow deep in thought, staring blankly that the silver leaf roll of tape in her hand. "Hey are you OK?" he asked, giving her a concerned look.

"We knew something was wrong, me and Salt. We always thought it was strange that every room in our TARDIS was a life size replica of something from our home. There's a whole room dedicated just for Mount Lung, and across from it was a room that mirrored the banks of Lake Abydos where the Songfish swam. My favorite room was a large field that was over grown with Schlenk Blossoms. The smell was so sweet and powerful that sometimes you could smell them in the console room." She laughed. "One time, they bloomed all at once and their pollen got sucked into the vent system. The pollen was like moon dust, coating everything and getting into the chamber of the heart. It took me and Salt almost a decade it clean it all, he was so mad." Her smile faded, remembering a distant memory. "My father bought a flawed exploratory TARDIS from the repair shop on my initiation to look into the Untempered Schism. I should have known something wasn't right when he didn't take me to the Academy right after. I remember my father stuffing the TARDIS with everything in our house, old photos and books, ceremonial robes and heirlooms, even our family Loom. I remember my mother talking to Salt's grandfather, begging her to take Salt. They put us into the TARDIS and gave Salt a weird toy ball that we played with for hours. We soon realized that it was a Sleep Ball that released an odorless sleep gas, and by the time woke up we were floating in the middle of space." Rainbow looked up and saw the Doctor listening carefully with his head in his hand and sitting in a resting posture. "I'm sorry if I'm boring you."

"No, it's just when I left Gallifrey I never thought I would miss it, until it was gone. Your father must have known…" The Doctor became emotional, sniffing hard to hold back his guilt and abandoning his thought. "Your TARDIS must have taken good care of you two. I would love to thank her," he added.

"As would I," said River, followed by Cmdr. Ghonia.

Rainbow smiled. "She would like that?"

"Where is your boyfriend anyway?" Cmdr. Ghonia asked.

"Wandering; I should probably go find him and he's not my boyfriend," Rainbow replied with her cheeks slight more rosy than usual.

Ghonia grinned. "Is that right?" River shot her a look, making her change the subject. "Why were you two on that planet?" she asked Rainbow.

"Well, we got a strange message from the TARDIS receiver. Salt thought maybe it was a distress signal, but we couldn't go anywhere. The TARDIS navigation systems were removed. I guess my father thought we might go somewhere dangerous, but Salt hooked up his grandfather's Time Ring to the systems wiring and it allowed us to follow the signal. We landed on that planet and started looking around," she explained.

"That's clever. What was the message?" asked the Doctor.

"I will meet you here," she remembered.

"We got that same message." River looked at the Doctor, who was now thinking that maybe their meeting wasn't accidental.

Rainbow shook her head. "That's impossible. The message was sent recently and it had very accurate space time coordinates in Circular Gallifreyan." Rainbow stated, knowing that no other species but Time Lord could read or understand it.

"Well if you and Salt didn't send the message then who did?" asked River.

"Careful, River, that could become a loaded question," said Cmdr. Ghonia, giving her a cheeky grin. River returned the grin with a death glare, making the Doctor a bit nervous.

"Let's not worry about that. We should just sit and relax while the TARDIS recalibrates," the Doctor said, quickly sitting Ghonia in a pilot chair. He turned and did the same to River. "A nice cup of tea and good conversation sounds nice. What do you think, dear?" he asked River.

River raised an eyebrow at him but smiled and replied, "Lovely, sweetie." With that, the Doctor proceeded to the TARDIS kitchens for the tea, leaving the three women behind.

As the Doctor walked to the kitchens, he passed through a hallway with bay size dimension windows, looking outside where Gallifrey and its system had their place in the universe. Looking through the dust and rubble of the planet, a golden light flickered, making the Doctor look twice. Seeing nothing the second time, he continued down the hall way.


	5. By Design

Chapter 5: By Design

Salt wandered the TARDIS corridors like a stubborn child, peeking through doors and acting like he wasn't impressed or interested. He didn't want to believe that everything he stood for was gone. As a small boy he wanted nothing but to become the best Gallifreyan Soldier that his people had ever seen. After all it was in his blood. Every member of his house was born or woven to become a soldier or agent of the Gallifreyan Law. For hundreds of generations his house produced the best of the best and Salt refused to be the exception.

"If it wasn't for him, I would be graduated and doing field work by now!" he yelled, angrily punching the wall of the corridor. Two pentagon shaped doors next to him slid open, revealing a magnificent glow of sonic blue. Salt instinctively un-holstered his mercy gun and cautiously entered the room.

As he stepped further into the room, he soon realized where he was. His face softened into a wide open smile. "Great Lords of the Nine," he muttered as he looked around like a kid in a candy store. The walls of the room, from floor to ceiling, were covered in perfectly aligned Gallifreyan weaponry and armor. Beautifully displayed, there were every make and model of Mercy Guns, Impulse Lasers, and Parallel Cannons. Also, clockwork manikins displayed every kind of armor set that the Time Lords invented. From light Crystalline Armor for the standard agent to the heavy Gamma Armor that was used for black hole extraction, the room had everything. Time Torpedoes and their launchers circled the middle of the room where a square glass display case stood. "It's like I just walked into my grandfather's arsenal," he said, approaching the display case. He peered through the glass and saw small, handheld, silver spheres with an activation pins. There was a small label on the glass that read, "Time Bomb V2 aka The Time Grenade."

The Doctor returned from the kitchen to a console room of distress. River and Cmdr. Ghonia yelling rude names at each other and poor Rainbow stuck in the middle.

"If you think you can just come into my TARDIS and talk to me like that, you got another thing coming, bitch!" River shouted at Ghonia angrily.

"It takes one to know one! And for your information, if your future self would have told me that you were on that death hole of a planet, I wouldn't be in this junk heap!" Ghonia shouted back, inching closer to her.

"For being my employee, you sure are bold!"

"You're technically not my employer just yet, so don't flatter yourself!"

"Ladies, ladies can't we just calm down and have some tea. Look! I brought some," the Doctor announced, holding up the tea tray but failing to get their attention. The two women were now face to face giving each other cold glares. "Rainbow, what happened?" he asked.

"Well, I'm not sure. Something about spoilers and dress sizes, but it was all quite complicated for me to follow," she replied, assuring the Doctor she had nothing to do with it.

"You flat chested little twit!" screamed River.

"Thunder thighs!" Ghonia countered at the top of her lungs.

River shockingly stared at Ghoina then attacked her with a good slap across the face. Ghoina, of course, reacted immediately and soon there was a two on two, war in the TARDIS console room.

"Doctor, do something," Rainbow said, hiding behind him.

"Come between an enraged woman and my wife? I'm a mad man with a box, not a crazy man with one," explained the Doctor as he moved out of the way of the fighting women, who were hitting each other and pulling hair.

As they moved towards the doors to the hallway, a horrific creature blocked their way, stopping them in their tracks. The two stared at the gelatin creature in disgust as the flesh colored thing glowed gold and started to form into a humanoid. River and Ghonia backed away from the moaning and twitching abomination, regrouping with the equally terrified Doctor and Rainbow. Golden particles burst into rays of light all around it, giving it more structure and detail. Soon the thing became a full humanoid with a voice. "Ja hekus dul'ks," it hissed as its burnt flesh bubbled and melted. It moved closer. "Dor fa'rea dul'ks!" it screamed and charged at the group.

"Wait, stop! I had to do it! Please!" the Doctor pleaded, pushing himself in the front of the group.

Suddenly the creature was hit by a Time Torpedo and was instantly incased in an amber colored time locked bubble, forever frozen.

"Oh man! I have got to get me one of these!" yelled Pvt. Bo, laughing and holding a Time Torpedo Launcher.

"Yeah, no kidding, that was a nice shot." Salt laughed behind him.

"Salt!" Rainbow cried, running to him and giving him a hug. Seeing that he was wearing a new suit of armor, she stepped back from him and gasped at his new wears.

"Hey, Rainbow, why doesn't our TARDIS have an Armory?" he asked.


End file.
